Notes / Commercial Description:
Scotland’s rugged soils are not conducive to the cultivation of hops that grow readily in England, so during times of political strife Scotland’s southern neighbor would deprive Scottish brewers of their hops. The resourceful Scot turned to his native heather as a flavoring for his ales. Heather grows wild in the rockbound highlands and when added to the beer yields a silky aromatic result. Our Scottish Ale is brewed with a large amount of both malted barley and heather producing a rich-bodied ale with a sweet finish true to the style.

Taste: Initially, a pleasant roasted, chocolate maltiness. This flavor then gives way to the heather which, for me, comes across as antiseptic-tasting. That flowery, medicinal heather taste is simply embedded in the finish, too.

Good gracious, me. I didn't know my palate would find the taste of heather to be so off-putting.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Fair carbonation.

Drinkability: I liked this beer all the way up until I stopped liking it, or, to place the blame where it belongs, until it shoved a handful of flowers into my mouth.

This is the second offering from these folks that I must assume is spoiled. The pour is dark with minimal head. Aroma is vinous with a strong peat pretense. Flavor is that of red wine that's opened too long - slightly vinegar, and sour grape. The fizziness of carbonation just make this seem like a bad wine cooler. Really a shame, as Scottish ales are one of my favorite styles, and I had big hope. But between this and the Real Ale, I'm thinking either they have serious quality control issue, or just make really awful beer.

Overall: I generally like Atlantic's offerings, but this one just did not hold up to previous Scottish ales that I have tried. This drinks more like an imperial porter and is missing a lot of the Scottish spices that I associate with the style. For me, this is a pass.

Eye: Not really much to look at here. Barley any head formation let alone retention. Color might as well be black. It looks ok, but I feel that more head would help, a bit lighter in the color-well I expected that, but if this is the color produced by the malts to create this flavor profile; which I hope is awesome, then I can let it slide. However, it just almost looks like a stout with really bad; well, no head retention.

Nose: As soon as it is decanted I can smell peat first off. Sweetness with the nose up to the glass, smokey peat tones, toffee, caramel...basically this is a big malty beer. Some diacetyl in here as well.

Tongue: Some smokey notes, definitely peat in there, it lingers on the back of the tongue along with some light roasted grain bitterness. Body is much lighter than I would like and carbonation is low. This beer should be big and malty and full bodied and it just isn't. I'm not really getting any of the big malty tones that I got in the aroma, no toffee, no caramel. This one is kinda a disappointment. Too bad. With that said, I understand why the color is so dark/black-it tastes like they used roasted barley.

Drinkability: Not a bad beer, but nothing I would seek out. I can think of other scottish ales I'd rather drink over this one.

the color is nice. it's a deeep garnet that mostly shows itself at the edges exclusively. the head is decent, with a big mound in the middle of my duvel chalice

the aromas are of heavy caramelization and even some more raw-type characteristics, like molasses. it's not an overly-complex aroma, but rich. i may even smell hops. other reviewers are citing smoke, but i can't really pick it up

the flavor, however, does sport a bit of smoke, but it's more like the smoked wood. i love rauchbiers but this is nowhere as enjoyable. again, hops seem to be making themselves present

the mouthfeel is not particularly good. it's way too lifeless for a scottish ale. i know it's not a scotch but i still expect a little more oompf

it's alot like an american brown. not bad; not on to style, but i forgive

T - the flavor is malt dominant lots of fruit, almost phenolic. I've never had "heather nibs" but combined with mild hops they difinitely counterbalance the sweet malt and add bitterness leaving a finish dry. There is a pleasant musty smokiness throughout that makes it enjoyable.

O - Overall it's alright, it's a little rough around the edges, the fruity character almost tastes off and doesn't add to the enjoyment. I like that they brewed this true to style, with heather nibs, but not the best example I have had.

Ap. Basic black with nice tan head, but didn't last long.
Sm. Interesting. maybe smokey, earthy, some faint faint chocolate. Can't find the hops.
Ta. Same...slight smokey, malt, roasted, milky even, leads to brief coffee flavor and then a sweet finish.
Mf. thick and sticky
Dr. A big beer, filling, plently of flavor, but kind of muddled. It's good, but the flavors are so blended that I can't sort it out. It will NOT be a problem to finish off the bomber.

Purchased at the brewery. Poured into a tulip. Pours stout-black with a finger of tan head that slowly dissipates and leaves a little lace. Smell is roasty, roasty, roasty. Taste is roasty too, malt and roast. Mouth is good. Overall, this is not at all what I expected from a scotch ale. Not that I'm all that familiar with them, but this seems just like a light-bodied roasty stout to me.

Malt is very evident but on tasting I found it not as sweet as I thought it would be. The aftertaste has a very roasted feel and a dry finish, alcohol is evident and could use a little time to calm down.

Not a fan of strong Scottish ales but this is one of the better ones I've had. A smoother feel would have aided this beer I think, maybe remove some of the alcohol tones.

Dark color with a decent head to start it dissipates.
A nice scottish malt aroma sweet butter and sugary.
The taste is swseet with a roasted buttery taste a light alcohol finish it leaves a roast on the tongue and finishes dry nice.
This is a drinkable scott and the sweet roast makes easy to drink

A special thanks to Purplehops of BC-2 for sending this beer my way. The beer was served in an Imperial Pint glass.

Appearance: The beer pours a clear chestnut brown. The head was a short lasting off white coloration. Specks of lacing remain behind on my glass.

Smell: The beer has a slightly smokey caramel smell. The hops come along in a floral herbal sort of way.

Taste: This beer provides a very easy drinking smoked bready caramel flavor. The hops show up as a herbal floral combination. This is nice but the flavors are not as bold as I was hoping for.

Mouthfeel/ Drinkability: The beer is on the plus side of medium bodied. The carbonation is low but well incorporated. This is a very easy to drink beer. I enjoyed the beer from start to finish. I would gladly drink this beer again.

Poured a 1/2" latte head of brief life. The body in masstone is a deep burnt umber brown and held to the light there is zero light penetration. Smells of toasted malt. The taste has moderately rich malt which is followed by a dark cocoa finish. Kind of reminds me of a lighter porter. Decent beer, easy drinking, but to me it's not a standout of the Scotch ales.

Quite the dark beer here. Nearing black in color when viewed from afar, but held to the light makes the sparkling crimson body shine through. Small light tan head formed on top but reduced to only a skim layer of bubbles.

Aroma is filled with all sorts of stuff. Lightly toasted aromas form the underpinnings for this but dark fruits such as fig and raisin come through. A bit of tannic acid smell comes in making the fruity aromas seem ripe. These work well with the slight sweetness from some floral smelling hops. I think the heather probably plays into this particular portion of the aroma but truthfully I couldn't tell you exactly what heather was. The alcohol aroma is present as well, but doesn't detract at all.

Taste seems a bit more tame than the aroma. Toasted malts immediately hit the tongue and come forward with a little chocolate or toffee. After that the floral hops come in and again I think the heather is in this as I think the floral flavors are a little different than I have had before. Then the finish is alcohol with tea and tobacco, even some touches of smoke. I think the alcohol level is a little too pronounced though.

Mouthfeel I think is thin for the style. I'd like to see a little more creaminess to accompany the alcohol flavors. I think these beers should be sippers and to be that you need a full body and a slight alcohol presence. I think this lacks the former.

Drinkability is okay. This one is pretty easy to put down but doesn't offer much to draw me back in for another bottle.

Taste starts with an herbal hop taste actually, I can pick it out usually as I'm not a fan of that hop character, an earthy herbal UK style bittering hop, then some light heather spice flavors, a bit creamy, darker malts catch up finally, bringing some toasted crystal malts, caramel, light toffee, light molasses, slight syrupy, touch of roast, borderline touching on minerality, hint of smoke, and hint of darker fruits. Finishes still slightly sweet with just a touch more of the minerality quality, a hint of warming booze, a bit syrupy and touch of cocoa and toffee lingering.

Mouth is slightly heavier to medium bodied, lower carbonation (could have used a touch more carb).

Overall not bad, but not great either, some nice malty flavors, a touch of the herbal hops and heather give it a strange mix, nothing too off of it, but could have used a bit more carbonation, otherwise not bad.

Purchased from the brewery during my Maine vacation this past fall. This is one of the last remaining bottles I have from that trip.

APPEARANCE: Pours into my Victory becker a deep brown with some reddish-amber highlights. The head is tight and starts at around one finger high. It very quickly drops to an off-white collar with a large amorphous patch of bubbles in the center, and eventually to a completely still beer.

SMELL: The smell is big and malty with aromas of toffee, roasted grains, and quite a bit of smoke. Hop aroma is non-existent as this is just a major malt bomb.

TASTE: It's rather simplistic and takes a bit to really kick in. When it does, it similar to the aroma. Caramel, some slightly toasted and charred malts, and it's fairly heavy on the smoke. It really seems one-dimensional without any sort of complexity.

MOUTHFEEL: The carbonation is low, but I fear maybe a bit too low. The body seems slightly on the thin side as well.

DRINKABILITY: It's definitely not bad here. The alcohol is undetectable, and one bomber is the perfect serving side. Unfortunately I think the drinkability may be a product of the other deficiencies in this beer.

Not too bad. I held on to this for a while, and I don't think it was to it's detriment at all. It just can't match up to some of the authentic examples from across the pond.

A nice malty Scottish ale. Dark, rich and full bodied. Slight tan head. No hop character, very low bitterness, so malt flavors linger nicely as they should. Alcohol doesn't really show. I didn't get too much from the heather tips.